


Tumbling Forward We Spin On

by granny_griffin



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Books)
Genre: Gen, HTTYD - Freeform, HTTYD Books, how to train your dragon, how to train your dragon books - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2020-11-27 10:09:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20946602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/granny_griffin/pseuds/granny_griffin
Summary: In the future, a hospitable planet is discovered in a not-to-distant corner of the galaxy. Billions of people enter a cryogenic sleep and set off to form a colony there. The rest of humanity struggles to recreate civilization back on earth, where another race is just waking up from their long term slumber.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea and secretly hoped someone would write it. Then I realized that that someone was going to have to be me.
> 
> i tried. here you go.

At 2:45pm on the 29th of October in 2092 A.D, Avariya destroyed the world.

The day had begun simply enough. At 7:30am she and her Mum took a taxi out of downtown London. Avariya had stared out the window, but she couldn't see anything. The fog hung thick and empty over the city. Still, if the morning had been clear, there would not have been much to see. Everyone who was anyone was headed the same way she and Mum were. 

At 8:28am they were dropped off at the launch site. The compound was imposing, the walls far too high to see over. Avariya clutched her mother’s hand tighter. A guard directed them through the gate and to the left. For the next five hours they stood in a queue that wound in through the thick double doors of a cinderblock building and down hallway after crisp bright hallway until 11:32am when the two of them reached the security checkpoint. 

The guard took their documents and looked down to consider them. Then back up at Mum. "Sorry, but is that natural?" she asked, "Your hair I mean—it's just gorgeous."

Mum smiled, and Avariya tuned out of the rest of the conversation. Years ago she had admired Mum's white blond hair just like everyone else. Then one day she had complained about her own dull hair. Smirking, Mum had shown her the cabinet in the bathroom where she kept the hair dye. Mum was something of an artist in front of a mirror, and now Avariya was a natural blonde too. Somehow it didn't feel as she'd imagined it would.

They got past security at 11:37am and came out into an open waiting area where hundreds of people were milling about. Windows lined the right side of the room, but there was nothing to see out of them. A few magazines lay scattered around the small tables and various seating arrangements. Avariya did not feel like reading. There were too many things in her head right now. She could not bear to put more meaningless words in. There was nothing to do now but wait until 1:00pm. Avariya sat down in a chair with black cushions and closed her eyes. 

Nothing was how it used to be. She could feel it in the air—when the smog lifted, the sun was too bright and the wind too hot. Her parents were getting on in the world, but they were never home to talk to each other or to her. And at 1:00pm she and everyone else would walk into the room with the hypersleep capsules and prepare to be shipped off to—oh, she couldn't remember the name—that far inhabitable planet Da had helped to discover. Mum had said it would be just like the old fairy tale. Sure, they might sleep for a hundred years, but it would all pass in the blink of an eye. And when they awoke, the whole world would be brand new. All the mistakes of the past—wiped clean. They could all start over together. Avariya wanted that more than anything. So why was she so unsettled?

A loud noise startled her from her reverie. A man was standing on the other side of the windows on the right, near the emergency exit doors. He thumped his fist on the glass again and again. A few guards appeared as if from nowhere and walked over to deal with the situation.

"Excuse me," the man exclaimed. His voice was muffled through the glass. "I stepped out for a moment, and the door locked behind me."

"You'll have to go around through the front again," one of the guards explained.

The man looked crestfallen. "It’s too late—there isn't time to go through the queue."

"Sir, anyone from the street could walk up to this point. It would compromise the security of the area if we—"

"You have to let me in!" the man shouted, banging on the glass again. "I'll miss the flight! It's not like there's another I can catch later!"

Avariya knew he was right. Only part of the world would make it to this launch. The rest would be left to deal with the aftermath of everything. Maybe that's why it all felt wrong. The adults might be dyeing themselves a new world, but it was all a facade. At some point the old color was going to grow out again and they'd be back in the same place. 

"Avariya," Mum said, tapping her shoulder, "it's time."

Avariya stood and began to walk after her mother. Then she spun on her heel and ran back the other way. Before anyone could react she had pushed her way past the guards and out the emergency exit doors. They thudded shut behind her.

"Avariya!" It was Mum. "Avariya, wait!" She ran up to the door, but a guard stepped in her way.

"Ma'am," the guard said, "you can't let her back in."

"She's my daughter! What do you mean I can't—"

"Mum, come with me!" Avariya yelled, "Come out with me!"

Mum and the guard froze in the middle of their budding argument and turned to stare at Avariya.

"I don't need everything to be perfect!" she continued, "I just need you and Da to be there! Don't go where all the important people will steal all your time! Stay here with me!"

Mum didn't say anything, didn't make a move to get around the guard. She just stood there with a blank expression.

"Ma'am," the guard said, "We can let you out. But not in again."

Mum shook her head slowly, tears forming in her eyes. Then she turned around and walked away from the doors.

"Mum?" Avariya said softly.

Mum kept walking.

"Mum! Mum come back!! Where are you going?!" Avariya slammed her palm onto the pane of the door, then again, and again. "Mum, don't leave me here alone!"

Mum never turned around. No one else seemed to notice what had happened. Avariya was still standing there when everyone in the waiting room had filed into the chamber with the hypersleep pods and she was left staring in at an empty room in silence.

Now what?

There was still a chance. Da was a part of this whole thing. Maybe he knew somehow that she hadn't made it to her pod. He was staff, so he had an apartment in the compound. Maybe he was there even now, waiting for her. She turned and ran across the concrete courtyard behind her. She'd never been here before, but she knew her Da's apartment number. That would be enough.

It took her a long time to find it. There were so many buildings and none of them looked particularly distinct. She never would have made it without being stopped, but all the guards had disappeared into a room like the one Mum had entered, never to return.

It was supposed to be a total exodus. Today, at similar locations worldwide, the first set of voyages would embark. But Avariya knew better. She'd heard her parents talking behind closed doors when they thought she was asleep. Only about half of the earth's population would leave today. But it was the half who had been able to secure a spot first—the ones with money or an education. People like her parents. With them gone, many of the organizations that had made this expedition possible would simply shut down. Earth wouldn't have the resources for another set of voyages. Not for a few centuries, at least.

When she finally found the apartment, she ran straight up and tried the door. It was locked. Next she peered in through the window. The blinds were down, and it didn't seem like any lights were on inside. Now she could hear a strange humming noise in the distance, growing louder every second. The ground under her feet began to vibrate. Suddenly the unexpected hope that had carried her all this way dropped out of her chest. The launch was happening now. 

Avariya sat down on the doorstep. She didn’t want this—she hadn’t thought it through. Why did she run outside? Why did she not say anything to her parents this morning, or yesterday, or last week. Had she been afraid that they would not listen? What had made her think Mum would listen just now? Avariya bent over, buried her face in her knees, and sobbed. There didn’t seem to be anything else to do. 

She was still there at 2:45pm when the rocket carrying her parents set off into the sky, destroying her world forever.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's 12:11 am  
why am I still awake?  
have fun with this i guess

Avariya broke the window of her father's apartment with a loose brick she'd found in the courtyard. After climbing gingerly over the broken glass she went to the kitchen and rummaged around for the junk drawer. They were there. She snatched up the scissors, marched straight to the bathroom, and began cutting her hair off at the scalp.

There were five memories from her time alone that would stick out. No matter how faded her childhood grew in her old age, these five scenes stayed vivid. Avariya couldn't have told you why. But this moment—standing alone in front of the mirror, chopping piece after piece until her head was bare except for a vague white fuzz—this moment would become the first of them.

The second occurred a few weeks later. She had been scrounging dinner from the other apartments on the compound. One night she ran into somebody else who had the same idea. Frightened out of her wits, Avariya scampered out of the courtyard, down the street, and in the door of the first building that wasn't locked. It was a museum. For a moment she thought she was safe, and then she heard footsteps. A whole band of marauders was prowling through the halls, probably attracted by the various treasures which had been suddenly abandoned. Avariya grabbed a short sword from a nearby display and huddled behind a giant stone sarcophagus with weird runes scratched all over it. In the shadows, she was mostly concealed. Somehow she knew that she was just like all the things on display. If someone were to come and steal her, there wouldn't be anything she could do about it, sword or no sword.

She crouched there all night. Nobody noticed her.

The third was in winter. It didn't snow, but the rain was coming down in sheets. By then she knew to stay away from buildings when she could. Where there were buildings there were people. But it was cold and wet, so she did the stupid thing and ducked into a doorway that looked relatively unthreatening. Inside she found a nice spot to sit and drip water onto the floor. She was hungry, but she couldn't think of anything she could do to get food. Huddled there against the stone wall, she looked up and saw them—rows and rows of books.

Shakily, Avariya got to her feet and began to walk along the rows. She moved faster and faster until she was running from shelf to shelf, reading the labels on the ends of the aisles. Action Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Romance...these were all fictional. She turned and ran to the other side of the library. There were other categories here; Biography, Book Reviews, Encyclopedias, Guides—she skidded to a halt. This had to be it. She walked down the aisle and began skimming the book titles.  _ Methods for Tidying up Your Life _ ,  _ Tips on Making Friends and Being Popular _ ,  _ How to Read Books _ —and then she saw it, just above her eye level, thick and faded. An  _ Adventurer's Guide to Survival in the British Countryside _ . She snatched it off the shelf and flipped through the pages. There were sections on edible plants, simple traps, field dressing game, shelter construction, and so many more. Avariya slid to the floor and started to cry. This was it—this was how she was going to survive.

The next moment was months later. She'd gathered up enough confidence to start raiding buildings again. This one had already collapsed in on itself, so she didn't need to worry about it collapsing while she was inside. She had found some pretty useful things in the rubble (three cans of tuna, a sash she could hang her sword off of, and a spool of thread she could use to mend her clothes and pack) when she lifted up a loose board and saw a handheld radio.

It was a cool gadget, but it wasn't useful anymore. Nobody was broadcasting anything these days. She picked it up anyway and began fiddling with the dials. Suddenly she heard a voice. She dropped the radio and spun around—who was here? She'd thought she was alone.

When the voice came again, this time from her feet, she knew it was the radio.

That night she found a nice spot by the Thames, turned the radio on, and listened until the dawn was pink in the sky. There was only one station—the city of London's official broadcast. England may have fallen, but the city of London had a power structure that had been around since time immemorial and it wasn't planning on going anywhere anytime soon. In the time since the ships had left they'd set up a militia force to guard the farms.

It took Avariya a bit to figure that one out. Around midnight, someone named Linda got on the air and explained—so many people from the British Isles had left Earth that the whole infrastructure gone down. Which meant nobody was supplying the supermarkets. Linda had packed her bags and used the rest of the gas in her car to high tail it out of town. She stopped at the nearest abandoned farm and began to care for the stray animals roaming the area. She now had 38 chickens, 29 ducks, 3 cows, 10 cats, an herb garden, and a goat. Things had been tough for a while what with the raiders and all, but now that the city of London had sent out the militia force to make sure that the food raised by people like her stayed not stolen long enough to make it to a market, she wasn't having any trouble bringing in an income. Now she just needed to figure out how to keep the goat from eating the rosemary. 

Avariya laid her head back on the grass. She could see the stars so much better now that the power was out most places. The radio droned on. It was nice to hear so many voices—each of them telling a story. She hadn't realized how lonely she was. And now she had a secret between her and the stars. All the unwanted ones were here—they were still here—still living like nothing had happened. Maybe it was hard, but it was good. Despite everything, there was still good in the world.

She went to London that autumn. She'd heard adds on the radio—there was a blacksmith there who wanted some particular kinds of scrap metal—bits of electronics too. Avariya had found them and she was ready to collect the reward. And to have a conversation. She hadn't been around people in over a year. 

The outer city was still—buses stood idle and there were no pedestrians to speak of. Even the birds seemed to have disappeared. It was beautiful in an eerie sort of way. Then she rounded a corner and saw it—just down the street in front of her was a statue of a dragon, marking the entrance to London proper. Behind that was life. There were people walking around between booths and street-side shops. Lanterns were strung up on wires that zig zagged between the alley walls, and a smell of spice hung in the crispness of the air. She walked down the street in a daze. She hadn't known a city could feel so warm. It was like a fairy world come true. Just then she glanced up and saw another of the dragon statues guarding the border of the city, perched on the ledge of a building.

It moved.

Avariya looked away, blinked a few times, and looked back at the dragon statue. It was staring at her. She felt her heart thump harder and harder as it jumped down into the street before her. Now that it was in the light, she could see that it wasn't grey or silver or gold like a statue should be, but bright orangish red. Avariya stood frozen as the creature hopped onto a nearby crate of vegetables, took a big bite out of the nearest one, and immediately spit it out. This might have been comical—except the spit was on fire, and the fire caught onto the crates.

Somebody, probably the vegetable vendor, bumped Avariya's shoulder as he ran past with a water bottle and immediately poured it onto the crates. This didn't help particularly, and it got the creature all wet. Enraged, it reached up and bit the vegetable vendor on the hand. 

A gun went off behind her. Startled out of her trance, Avariya spun around. The first creature had been the size of a small dog—the one standing in the road behind her was at least as tall as a horse. It should have been bright red, but parts of it were all covered in a strange green liquid which made it look sort of brown. A militia member stood a few yards off with his rifle trained on the larger creature. It growled—a deep, unearthly noise—and spat flame at the gunman. It missed the man and hit the building behind him, which also caught on fire.

Avariya turned and ran. She probably should have a long time ago. Nobody was milling about on the street anymore, and there were strange shadows dancing on the ground, as if a thousand different kinds of birds were swooping around above the city. Avariya didn't look up to see what was casting them.

Suddenly her foot caught on something and she hit the ground hard. A claw grabbed her shoulder and flipped her onto her back. Standing over her was yet another reptilian creature, this one a deep purpley black, with eyes that shone white like a spotlight. Without thinking, Avariya drew her sword and held it out at the creature with as much menace as she could muster. Shockingly, it stepped back. Keeping the sword pointed at the creature, Avariya slowly got to her feet. The creature just stood there, blinking its unnaturally bright eyes. She stepped backwards slowly until she was at a somewhat safe distance, then she turned and ran again. 

She ran down the first underground entrance she saw. None of the trains were functional anymore, so she jumped down onto the track and kept running. In this place the deadly sky couldn't reach her, and she was too terrified to realize that it was creepy down here, alone in the dark. 

When she couldn't run anymore, she walked to the next station and went back up to the surface. She was somewhere in London's suburbs. It was night, but she could still see around her. There was a sort of glow to everything. It was strange. She didn't think the moon was full just now, but she looked around for it anyway. 

Then she saw the sky behind her. Back towards the inner city, beyond the inky black silhouettes of the surrounding buildings, the sky was bright with color. Orange and grey and yellow and white spread out from the ground like a painted sunset. She didn't know it yet, but the image would stick with her forever—the fifth vivid memory of her time alone. London was burning.


	3. Chapter 3

She walked a long way. She didn't know where she was, except that she was getting farther from the dark smudge on the horizon behind her. That way she didn't have to look at it as she went. 

She was out of the suburbs now, passing between clusters of houses. The fields at least were full of dry rustling grass and the caws of birds she couldn't see. All the towns were empty. As she walked through them she felt her steps and her breath and her heartbeat—all of them reverberating far too loud.

She was in an abandoned town when she heard it—a soft crunch, like a step into freshly fallen leaves. She spun around—but there was only an empty street behind her. She turned to keep walking.

A boy stood in front of her. "Excuse me," he said, "I was wondering—"

Avariya whipped her sword out and held it in his direction. "Where did you come from!" she demanded, "What do you want with me!" 

"I'm so sorry!" he said, backing away, "I really didn't mean to scare you! I just need directions. Which way is London?"

Now that she had a good look at him he didn't seem like much of a threat—wiry black hair, tattered clothes, and a giant backpack—he looked about her age. Had he been abandoned too?

Avariya lowered her sword and sighed. "You can't go to London."

"Why not?" the boy said, crossing his arms.

She meant to say something logical like, "There's been a terrible accident—London was destroyed," or even, "There must have been a radioactive explosion. All these mutated beasts are on a rampage."

But what actually came out was, "Because of the dragons."

The boy brightened. "Oh, so you know about them too? There are some in London now? They must have heard the radio signals."

"I don't think you understand," Avariya continued, "London is burning.

Just as quickly as it had lit up, his face fell again. "No...no that's not possible. The dragons are a peaceful people."

Avariya rolled her eyes. "You expect me to believe that? They literally just destroyed my city!"

"How did you know they were hostile in the first place?" the boy countered, "They might have just been coming to check out the radio station. That's a new development for us—you know, relatively speaking. Did you try talking to them first, or did you just attack?"

"What, me personally? I ran away as fast as I could. Still running actually. You should too. But since you're obviously crazy," she said, pointing back at the sky behind her where the grey haze still hung, "just follow the smoke, and you'll find London alright." With that, Avariya turned to walk away—and faceplanted into an invisible wall. She took a step back, rubbing her head, only to see a ginormous three headed monster materialize in the street before her. She opened her mouth to scream—but nothing came out.

"Aw, come on, slkjsfkmnvwue asdnfmweaelkm sdfmsamcdl!!!" the boy said, gesturing wildly. Well, it wasn't exactly like that, but that was as much as Avariya understood of it. Unsure of what good it would really do, she slowly raised her sword and pointed it at the monster.

"No, no it's okay, he's nice!" the boy said, stepping between her and the creature, "I'm really sorry about this actually. I told him to stay invisible."

"What." Avariya said. 

She probably should have elaborated, but in the moment that was as far as her brain would take her.

"Anyway," the boy continued, "he wants to know where you got that sword."

"The dragon?"

The dragon growled in what would have been an obliging manner if he hadn't been giant, scaly, and altogether meaning in every way.

"Yeah, his name's Death-Shade," the boy explained, "He also wants to know why your hair is floofy like a...hang on, I don't know that word." He took off his backpack and began pulling out various folders and notes until he found a particular book. He flipped through the pages for a moment. "Ah," the boy continued, "he wants to know why your hair looks like you were just electrocuted."

"Let me get this straight," Avariya said, "Your pet dragon disobeyed your direct order not to show himself to me...in order to insult my hairstyle?!"

"Now that I think about it," the boy said, "That is pretty rude. I'll tell him." And then he said something else to the dragon. Avariya still couldn't understand a word, but it did sound vaguely like a reprimand this time.

While he was distracted, Avariya knelt down and picked up a loose piece of paper. There was writing all over it. She recognized the script, but a lot of the words just looked like gibberish. "This is a language," she said, realization dawning in her mind. "These creatures are a people. We didn't know—if we had known—"

"We were going to tell everyone."

Avariya looked up. The dragon was invisible again, and the boy was looking right at her.

"My dad's side of the family owns an island off the west coast of Scotland," the boy said, "We have a vacation home there. I found the words in the attic—pages and pages of notes and dictionaries and stories. I think they were my great-grandmother's." He held out another bundle of pages towards Avariya. "This is them—I took a bunch with me. I mean, they belong to my family."

Avariya reached out and took the papers. "This is how you learned to speak to them."

The boy nodded. "A long time ago, there were dragons everywhere. And they mostly didn't get along with us. So a human king made a deal with them. He would spread rumors that the dragons never existed. In return they would...they have an ability...it's like our hypersleep. They promised to dive deep into the ocean and rest until the humans weren't here anymore. Death-Shade said...so many of us had left...they really thought it was safe to wake up again." He sniffed and rubbed his eyes. "I was trying to get to London. I thought—if we could just remember—maybe we wouldn't have a war this go around. But I guess I didn't get there in time."

He was definitely crying now. Avariya wasn't sure what to do. She felt pretty awkward—at least until Death-Shade reappeared next to them and she nearly died of fright. The three of them sat there for a moment. (Or the five of them—Avariya wasn't sure if you were supposed to count the heads separately.) 

It was quiet now that they weren’t talking. Avariya could hear the wind again. It was a lonely sound, like her last year on this cursed planet. Was there really nothing left besides her and the wind and the flame?

"There's still a way to stop this," she found herself saying, "Go to the dragons. Tell them what you just told me."

The boy started gathering up his papers and books and stuffing them back into his bag. "There's an island called Tomorrow, to the west," he said finally, "I think there might be something there—something that could help me get their attention. Maybe I could...no...no I can't do this."

"What are you talking about?" Avariya said, "You speak their language—you're the only one who can do this!"

He looked up at her with bleary eyes. "You really think so?"

She nodded. "Yes—I really do."

He zipped his backpack shut and stood up. "I guess...I guess I'd better get going then." Turning, he climbed up onto the dragon.

Avariya felt a sudden dread drop into her stomach. She'd only just met these people—but she couldn't bear to be left behind again. "Wait!" she called, "Let me come with you!" She ran up beside Death-Shade and grabbed onto his saddle strap—as if that would keep him from taking off. "You'll need me if you're going to do this. I'll remind you to be brave!"

The dragon muttered something unintelligible to her, and the boy nodded. Then he reached out his hand to Avariya. "Death-Shade says you can come."

She took his hand and climbed up behind him, trying to contain her relief.

"Strap yourself in," the boy said, pointing down to the various buckles that were attached to the saddle. "You won't want to fall off. Also, the wind will be louder when we fly, so if you have anything important to say, say it now."

She stopped in the middle of buckling herself and looked up at him. "I'm Avariya," she said, extending her hand, "What's your name?"

The boy smiled and shook her hand. "Timothy," he said, "My name is Timothy Cowell."


	4. Chapter 4

They came to Tomorrow at an awkward time.

Death-Shade landed on the west side of the island in a bog, which was difficult. From there, Timothy led them eastward, which meant they had to walk uphill. Avariya was breathless—but she couldn't tell if it was from the exercise or the flight. The brightness had been hot up there, without the clouds and the smoke in the way. It was hard to breathe in the sky. There was too much air. The wind caught in her mouth and choked her throat and filled her up with laughing. She'd been on a roller-coaster before—it was like that in the way a recipe is like an apple pie. She could acknowledge the technical similarity, but it wasn't the same.

They passed scattered ruins. A crumbling wall crowned the top of the hill. They came around it to a space where a gate must have hung at one point—and Death-Shade immediately drew his wing over them, shoving them to the ground in the process. Avariya would have been indignant—she had mud all over her knees—if not for the funny feeling in her spine. Something wasn't right.

In a moment, the scales on the underside of Death-Shade's wing shifted to reveal the courtyard beyond. Avariya gasped—it was like looking through a pane of glass. Yet somehow she knew that anyone looking towards them from the other side would only see the empty slope they had just crested. 

It was a good thing, since the courtyard was filled with hundreds of dragons.

They were scattered across the ruins of whatever town had once grown up inside the walls—perched on crumbling roofs and towers or nestled into patches of grass that peeped up through the cobblestones. All of them faced a silver dragon that sat on the edge of the courtyard before them.

Avariya and the others sat in perfect silence as, one by one, the dragons came up to the courtyard and spoke to all the rest. It was a rather orderly gathering, but even Avariya, who didn't understand a word of it, could feel the tension in the air. It seemed to her that at any moment the smallest thing could set them off into chaos. She had to keep reminding herself to breathe.

"The silver one is called Ghost," Timothy whispered, "He's in charge of this council."

"What are they talking about?" Avariya whispered back.

"Us," he responded, "The humans, I mean. They thought we were gone. That's why they woke up. Now they're trying to decide what to do. Some of them think they should go back to the sea for another thousand years and wait for all of us to die off on our own. Others don't want to sleep any more. They want to live again, humans or not. And then...a lot of them think...they think that this is all a trick. That the humans pretended to leave in order to draw them out and destroy them. They want to strike us down before we have a chance to carry out whatever plan we might have."

"The ships left a year ago," she responded, "They think we would wait this long if we meant to attack? They'd better not, we'd never stand against them."

"Dragons live a long time. A year is pretty short for them. And a lot of them only just woke up."

"Timothy—remember why I came with you?"

He nodded. "You're here to remind me to—"

Avariya grabbed his arm and dragged him out from under Death-Shade's wing and through the gate. Timothy was too startled to offer any resistance—and so was everyone else. They made it all the way to the courtyard where the silver dragon sat before the sky was eclipsed by a gaping maw. Avariya shrieked and drew her sword. The mouth drew back, and she realized that there was only a slightly large grey-blue dragon standing in front of her. She must have interrupted his speech.

"Wait—wait no!" she cried, throwing her sword down on the ground. It clattered across the cobblestones. Most of the dragons were still frozen in the shock of the moment, but the silver dragon—that's right, his name was Ghost—stood and crept towards them. He looked over at the sword for a moment, then up at Avariya and Timothy.

"We—we come in peace!" Avariya continued, "Timothy, you— "

"qlweijoewrhjkvcnmasdaoiwqemklxmlxzsl!" Timothy yelled.

Ghost stopped where he was, but Avariya couldn't tell if it was because of Timothy's exclamation or because Death-Shade had just materialized behind them.

“Okay Timothy,” Avariya said, “This is your moment.”

Timothy gulped. “I don’t know what to say.

Avariya glanced around at the creatures gathered before them. This was not a time for insecurity. A thought struck her. “I’ll speak to them,” she told Timothy, “All you have to do is translate.” Before he could respond, she cleared her throat and turned to the dragons. "We're here to speak for humanity." she announced. Then she waited.

After a moment, Timothy tapped her shoulder. "What does your name mean?"

Avariya scrunched up her brow. "What does that have to do with anything?" she whispered, "We're in a bit of a situation!"

"Dragon names always mean something," Timothy explained, "If you’re going to speak at this council, I have to know what your name means so that I can introduce you."

"Just make something up," Avariya said.

Timothy shook his head. "They'll find out later and think we're rude. We need to not be offensive. Tell me—quick, before we lose their attention!"

Suddenly, Avariya's mind was in another place—a world that had long ago been destroyed. Once upon a time, sitting on a ragged couch as the rain drummed against the windowpane behind them, her mother had told her the story of her birth.

Her parents hadn't intended to have a child. Because of her, Da proposed and Mum moved to England. And with the move and the wedding and the pregnancy, the two of them never sat down to figure out a name.

It was in the hospital, immediately after she was born, that her parents realized their predicament. But in their exhaustion, they both drew a total blank. They sat in dead silence for a moment, trying to come up with anything remotely passable for a child's name, and in the quiet they heard Mum's Mum, Avariya's Ukranian grandmother, whispering quietly to herself as she held her newest grandchild in her arms.

"Avariya," she crooned, "My tiny, perfect Avariya."

Her parents picked the name immediately. It was only afterwards that they discovered what it meant.

"Accident," Avariya said, finding herself back in the present, "Avariya Haddock. I'm an accidental fish."

Timothy looked away from the crouching dragons, suddenly distracted from the possibility of their imminent death. "What was that?"

"I'm an accidental—" 

"No, I heard you," Timothy said, "I just mean—"

"Oh come on," Avariya groaned, "You make fun of my hair, and now you have to make fun of my name? Right now?"

"That's not what I—"

"Just translate it!"

Timothy spun around and said something to Ghost. For a moment, the silver dragon didn't reply. The crowd around them fidgeted and whispered amongst themselves. Then Ghost spoke—he and Timothy shared a short interchange. When Avariya couldn't stand the tension for a second more, Timothy turned back to her.

"Ghost is going to allow you to speak to the council," he said, "I'll need you to pause every so often so that I can translate for you."

"I can do that," Avariya said. The words were for her own reassurance as much as Timothy’s. "Tell them—tell Ghost that I'm thankful for his kindness."

"I already did," Timothy said, "Just start talking—I can make you sound polite."

"Oh,” Avariya said, blushing at her own ineptitude. What was she thinking? Her own mother didn’t listen to her. Who was she to let the fate of humanity ride on her ability to persuade what might as well have been an alien race?

But there wasn’t anybody else, was there? She might as well try.

Avariya looked up at the surrounding crowd of dragons. Everything was quiet. Everyone was looking at her. The wind was howling lonely through the ruined town. She took a deep breath.

"You are half right," she said, "Many of my kind have left this planet. We were ready, but not all the way. We couldn't take everyone.

"So the strongest and the smartest and the richest of us went—because they could. They left the others behind.

"I was one of the strong ones. I could have left, but I didn't. I couldn't leave the other's. That's—it's evil!

"It's evil to ignore what other people need just to get what you want. And a world where safety is bought through evil isn't worth living in.

"I've heard the old stories. Timothy's been telling me some along the way. Once a boy stood here with the power to destroy dragons forever and save humanity and he didn't use it.

"Dragons live a long time. I know that you remember this. Now we are reversed—will you deny us the same mercy?"

When Timothy finished the final translation there was silence for a moment. Then the dragons started whispering again. The whispers grew to full fledged voices. After a few minutes, the council was in danger of dissolving into complete chaos.

"I will speak!" someone called out over the din, "You asked me to—you have all been asking and—and I am ready now."

Avariya gasped. It was a dragon's voice—speaking it's own language. She could hear the harsh syllables with her own ears. But something was whispering over that, into the back of her mind, telling her what the words meant.

She could see the speaker now. He was smaller than Death-Shade but bigger than Avariya, and he was green—at least, he might have been before he had been covered over in barnacles. She could just make out the color through the creases in the crustaceans. Without waiting for Ghost to approve his request, he walked straight into the middle of the courtyard and began to speak. Nobody moved to stop him.

"Once I did everything in confidence," the barnacled dragon began, "but now that I am a little older my eyes see clearer and I'm hardly sure of anything."

Without warning, he looked down into Avariya's eyes. She had never looked into the eyes of a dragon before. It made her feel a little sick, but somehow she couldn't turn away.

The dragon continued, "Girl, when I look at you, I see your life, and your father's life, and your father's father's life, all the way back to your ancestors in the past, when the world was young and I flew for the first time. It is always the same! When evil rises, good rises to stop it, and evil rises to stop that. We are like fall and spring, rising and falling and tumbling forward we spin on and—and I am not sure who will end on top, or if it will ever end at all. But one thing I know. I would rather die fighting for a good world than live in an evil one."

He turned back to the crowds. "You are dismissed for now—come back tomorrow after you have thought over these things."

They were all still at first. Then, one by one, they stood and began to take off into the sky. Avariya released a breath she didn't know she had been holding. This had all been her idea, but she had still been half sure that they were going to get eaten in the process. The barnacle dragon approached them and struck up a conversation with Death-Shade, but she was too relieved to pay attention to it.

"That green one—he has teeth now," Timothy said nervously.

Avariya raised an eyebrow, "Did he not before?"

Just then, the barnacle dragon turned to her. "You, the accidental one—walk with me for a moment."

"He wants you to go with him," Timothy said, apparently unaware that Avariya had understood, "I think you should. He's one of Death-Shade's friends, he won't hurt you. And you wouldn't know this, but he spoke in your favor before the council just now."

Avariya nodded her assent, but she stopped to pick up her sword before she left. The two of them walked up to the edge of the ruins where the cliff face fell into the sea.

"Why did everyone listen to you," Avariya blurted.

"I'm a sea dragon," the barnacle dragon said, "I have their respect."

"How come I can understand you?"

"I'm a sea dragon. I'm telepathic."

Avariya crossed her arms, but it was more from the cold than frustration. "This is confusing."

"It confuses me," the dragon said, "I'm thousands of years old, but I wasn't aging for most of it. I only woke from hibernation a few days ago. For a dragon, I am still quite young. However, that's beside the point—I'm very interested in you, small one. Where did you get that sword—"

"Death-Shade wanted to know that too," she interrupted.

"How did you know we had gathered here?" he continued, "And most of all, what is your plan? What are you going to do next?"

Avariya shrugged. "Wait and find out if the dragons are going to kill us all? I don't even know how I got here, much less where I'm going now. Have any suggestions?"

The dragon turned to look out at the horizon. "Girl with a name I once loved," he murmured, "you will always have a home with me."

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [tumblr](https://granny-griffin.tumblr.com)


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